A United Methodist Pastor's Theological Reflections

"But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory (nikos) through our Lord Jesus Christ." - I Corinthians 15:57


Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Books I'm Reading


How to Read the Bible for All It's Worth, by Gordon Fee & Douglas Stuart. (Have read 81%)
This is an excellent book to help people appreciate the several different genres found in the bible.  The authors go to great lengths to help the reader to NOT read the bible out of context and to know how to appreciate the different genres that we find in the bible like narrative, epistles, law, wisdom, poetry, etc.

Hijacked: Responding to the Partisan Church Divide, by Michael Slaughter & Charles E. Gutenson with Robert P. Jones. (Have read 31%)
The authors trace how white evangelicals became closely associated with the Republican Party.  According to the research, this began immediately after the Reagan presidency.  This is not a book to promote one party over another but to caution the Christian community to not allow political worldviews to trump our theological/Christian worldview.  As pastors over a long period of time, they have noticed this change in their churches where church members are mirroring the divide that we are seeing in the present political landscape.

Books Waiting to Be Read:  As my church prepares for our bicentennial celebration events, I will soon be reading, Why I Am a United Methodist by Will Willimon and Recapturing the Wesley's Vision by Paul Chilcote.
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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Chilcote's "Recapturing" will be well worth your time. His teaching about Wesleyan dialectics comes into play almost every day for me. Enjoy!